Archaeological manifestations of cross-cultural encounters along the Dixcove coastline, Western Region, Ghana

Abstract

Using both archaeological and historical data, this paper examines the consequences of the British presence at Dixcove in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries and how their encounter with local Ahanta populations there impacted the body polity of Ahantaland and the local economy. It shows that prior to the advent of the British and their construction of Fort Metal Cross, Dixcove was a small coastal chiefdom with fishing and salt production constituting the mainstays of the local economy. The period subsequent to British arrival then witnessed the rapid development of vibrant commercial relations between the two groups and the evolution of Dixcove from cosmopolitan to urban status.